…and changes to the Celestial Bearbarian Set

Hello everyone! As Sylfaen mentioned in his last Devblog article, there will be quite a few changes in DOFUS 2.6, including a new range of equippable items aimed at end-game players.

"OMG! I'm going to need a bigger closet!"
-Brigitte, preparing for the arrival of new equipment.

The current situation with end-game equipment since the launch of Frigost

Impatient readers might want to skip this section, which explains our thoughts on end-game equipment in DOFUS, and begin reading again at the next sub-heading, “New end-game sets in DOFUS 2.6”.

Since the addition of the new sets that came with the release of Frigost, we’ve noticed that end-game equipment is not seen as particularly diverse. Some people think it is too powerful, or not specific enough, whilst others think there isn’t enough choice (even though we went from a dozen or so level 190+ items before Sakai to more than 50 at the time of writing this article). However, most of you will remember that the lack of diversity was even worse before that, with the Sucker set being seen as the best end-game set possible, the Inky Veil as the “must have” cloak for strength or intelligence-based characters (and sometimes even for characters who weren’t str/int based), and any level 200 character not using a 1/2 Ougaammer in PvP had obviously messed up their build.

Solomonk, Inky Veil and Ougaammer: there’s a Sadida you don’t see very often!

At end-game level, players were forced to create their own equipment combinations, routinely sacrificing stats by wearing low level items that would suit their class and game style. It was difficult to be flexible while remaining powerful, and players choosing to do so had to borrow their level 120 character’s Solomonk or sacrifice a great deal of stats by wearing an Event Belt to reach 1/2.

The equipment that was released with Frigost is based almost entirely around multi-element sets (some made up of five items, each with their own very complementary bonuses). This has led many players to stop thinking in terms of combining different individual items, but rather in terms of wearing complete sets. Why choose items separately when a full set gives you everything you need? What’s left to customise when you’re already wearing the complete Celestial Bearbarian set with an AP/MP Gelano? (other than a ring, a weapon and a pet!)

The Celestial Bearbarian set is at the heart of the problem. It allows a wide range of classes to be effective across three elements, and has excellent secondary bonuses: great resistances and enough crits to be able to reach 1/2 from 1/50 with a decent Turquoise Dofus. It gives an extra MP, an excellent dodge bonus and superb MP reduction. Its only real weakness is the ‘< 560 characteristics’ condition, which was put in place to stop a character in full CB hitting as much in each element as a mono-element character can hit in a single element.

We’re not about to make a complete U-turn when it comes to the multi-element side of the game as we’re convinced it’s an interesting and very underrated way of playing, and something the Frigost items were supposed to address. We do, however, feel that players who choose to focus on a single element (and possibly a secondary element) are not sufficiently rewarded. At the moment, playing as a mono-element character is of little interest. There are plenty of items that give a bonus to the element in question, but most of them only have one or two additional bonuses. One of our main aims is to remedy this situation. If a player wants to focus on a single element, they should be able to, and still be as effective as a character choosing to focus on several.

We also want to reinforce the idea of making a sacrifice, and encourage players to really think about the choices they are making when it comes to equipment. We don’t want people to pick a default set without a moment’s thought, just because it’s roughly what they’re looking for. We’d prefer them to keep asking themselves if it might be better to unequip one of the items of their set and wear something else in its place. We recognise that this choice isn’t there at the moment because it means losing a vital AP, so by increasing the number of sets that give an AP bonus (and that are made up of a small number of items), everyone should be able to choose a varied range of equipment without worrying about losing an AP.

Well, I’ve made you wait long enough: let’s cut to the chase!

New end-game sets in DOFUS 2.6

6 new level 190+ sets will be waiting for you once the DOFUS 2.6 update is released. Each set is made up of 3 items which will address gaps in the various equipment categories. You won’t be able to combine them with existing sets and end up with an over-powered combination (which would be counterproductive) so don’t expect to be able to reach 12AP/6MP without making a few sacrifices!

The sets will reference iconic DOFUS NPCs. This, for example, is Danathor’s Hat.

The sets will cover 6 different areas: 4 single-element sets (one for each element), a “support” set, and a new tri-element set.

• The single-element and support sets follow the logic I spoke about earlier: they will make playing the game with a single element as effective as if you were using a multi-element set. This will involve an increase in the maximum value of the sets’ bonuses compared to existing sets, but a reduction in the overall number of bonuses (this can be compared to what we did with Frigost to encourage specialisation). The Lemming Bracelet, is an example of an object like this, and would be classed as a “support” item.

• We will take particular care to ensure that it will still be worth wearing a single item of these sets, rather than having to wear the full set.

• The tri-elment set will be Strength/Chance/Agility-based to differentiate it from the Celestial Bearbarian and Professor Xa sets. It will give balanced bonuses which will allow players to be able to try these three elements at the same time.

• The recipes for the new sets will not follow the same model as the existing Frigost sets. As well as needing some resources from Frigost (as this is where the majority of end-game monsters and bosses are, after all)  you’ll need new resources that you’ll have to drop from “old continent” monsters, like Ougaa, Bworker or Kimbo, or even Kolisseum pebbles, which should limit the possibility of bulk farming resources. There’ll also be a new, mystery resource that will be covered in an upcoming Devblog article!

The Bworker will have to get even better at sharpening his blades…

In summary, the new sets aim to provide an alternative to the items that were released with Frigost and encourage you to question the value of wearing a full set (or non-specialised equipment) and use individual items instead. You might lose flexibility, but you’ll gain power and impact in fights, which is something the Frigost sets don’t allow for quite as well.

Changes to the Celestial Bearbarian Set

But there’s still a significant problem. Lots of players have decided to use the Celestial Bearbarian set instead of other items and sets because it gives so many bonuses. As I mentioned earlier, it means that you can be very effective across three elements without there being any real downside.

The Celestial Bearbarian set isn’t disproportionately powerful for its level, and worn separately, the items are good, but they’re no better than other items of their level. But there are 5 of them, with bonuses that complement each other (something that individual items don’t have), and the full set bonus is excellent. Taking this into account, we feel that the set lacks any kind of weakness or vulnerability that an opponent could use to their advantage.

Given this set’s bonuses (very versatile without being OP in close combat, massive dodge, excellent MP reduction capability), you might be surprised to learn that it was intended for characters that value fleeing and keeping their opponent at distance (which is partly why it’s so effective when worn by Sadidas or Enutrofs). It’s with this in mind that the following changes will be made to the set with the release of the DOFUS 2.6 update:

• The set’s %resistance bonuses will be replaced by fixed resistance bonuses. This will reduce the ability of characters wearing full CB to withstand damage from powerful attacks (close combat, for example), without significantly affecting their ability to withstand damage from weaker attacks, which tend to be ranged attacks. In simple terms, if the attack does less than 100 damage, you’ll be better off, but you will be increasingly worse off as the damage caused increases.

• Wearing 3, 4 or 5 pieces of the set will incur a penalty of -20, -40 and -60 lock respectively. The Celestial Bearbarian set was the best available set in terms of dodge and had a considerable agility bonus as well, so we thought it would be appropriate to make it a lot less effective in terms of lock. Players using the Celestial Bearbarian set will still be evasive, but will no longer be able to count on locking anyone and everyone on their turn.

•  As a result, the ‘Lock < 15’ condition on all items in the set will be removed (making it even easier to use an individual item rather than having to wear the full set). We will also remove the ‘Dodge < 15’ condition from the Bearbaric set, as wearing it together with the Celestial Bearbarian set will no longer be as beneficial as it used to be.

Not for much longer....

I’m sure some of you saw the word “changes” in the title and are now crying “Nerf! Nerf!”, but in my eyes it’s not a nerf at all: the way you play the game hasn’t changed, in the vast majority of cases you won’t need to swap out any of the items, your damage will still be the same and you’ll have the same amount of AP/MP/range/crits as before. You’ll just have to adapt to the set’s weakness in close combat.

I hope this article has given you an insight into our thoughts on end-game items in DOFUS and that you’ll enjoy the new batch of equipment and (re)discover different ways of playing the game!

-Seyroth